| How Often Does Your Child Need Sealants? |
Protecting your children's teeth should be of utmost importance and considering you can't always control what they can and cannot eat, what you should try to do is control their risk for cavities. Although dental sealants do not avoid cavities completely, they do considerably lower the risk of cavities by protecting your child's molars. However, you should ensure that you teach your child good oral hygiene morning and night, and start keeping up with their dental appointments starting at age 1. The sooner your child gets used to the idea of visiting a dentist, the easier it is for them to follow up even as adults.
A sealant is a solution that's applied over the molars and it acts as a protective shield. Parents often get confused with regards to how soon they should get sealants for their children's teeth. While some parents believe that they should get it only when the permanent molars show up, others think of getting it done for their children at a younger age.
ADA advises parents to get sealants on their children's molars anytime between the ages of 5 and 10 or as soon as their first adult molars show up. Baby molars are sometimes sealed as well, if they have deep grooves that can trap food and germs and lead to cavities. While you may believe that these baby molars are not permanent and will fall out eventually, protecting them makes a lot of sense because you can avoid a lot of dental issues such as root canal procedures (pulpotomies) and crowns, or even extractions.
We will always check how sealants are holding up at each checkup visit. Occasionally we may need to reapply sealants, if they have worn off from teeth grinding or eating very sticky foods. Usually, sealants can last several years! The materials we use have no BPA or other materials that are harmful to the body. You should then expect sealants again by the time they are about 12 years old, so that the second set of molars are also protected.
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| Options for a Child's Toothache
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A child's toothache can be due to various reasons. Children have softer gums so sometimes their ache could be due to a small injury to the gums or a sharp object like a small toy that hurt their gums while playing with it. When they are losing their milk teeth, they could also suffer from toothaches and be irritable.
If your child is suffering from a toothache, you may want to try out a warm water gargle with a little salt to help reduce the inflammation and pain. If it's nothing serious the pain should go away in a day. If it doesn't and you suspect that it is getting worse, we recommend visiting us so we can take a closer look at the problem.
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| Google Cannot Diagnose a Dental Condition - Only We Can |
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Technology has made life easier, and with a few keystrokes, we can look up our symptoms on Google. While this may seem convenient and you may believe that you can self-medicate to get better, it seldom works, especially with dental problems.
For example, if you do have a toothache, home remedies may help you find temporary relief from the problem, but it's not something that will solve it long-term. After all, Google cannot treat the source of infection or replace a missing tooth. You need dental experts for that and that's why we are here. Ignoring a dental problem and relying on a short-term internet solution will only make matters worse.
It's okay to do some research to help you better understand your dental health, but searching online can't treat a dental health problem fully. Instead, use an online search to find the quickest route to our office or to find our number to schedule an appointment.
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